A creative blog about my inspiration, philosophical ponderings, textiles and journey through life.

Thursday, 25 July 2013

Kiama's Charm - no.10 - Life is a Gamble

After 4 beautiful sunny and dry days at Yosemite National Park we started our journey back to Washington in the pouring rain. Our first over night stop was in Oroville, North California, where we hooked up at the Feather Falls Casino KOA.

With some free game vouchers (from the campsite reception) plus $1.00 each we spend an hour or so trying our luck at the slot machines. John and I had never gambled in a casino before, so it was great to make some small winnings at this first experience. John made a grand total of $ 11.00!!!
We were even given a free courtesy car driving us back (2mins. across the road) to the campsite.

For all non-American readers here, lots of casino's in the US are owned and run by Native Americans on tribal land because the tribal laws don't have the same restrictions on gaming as the US laws.
The beauty is that the money they make is put back into the tribal community, basically using the greed of the white men who robbed them in the first place.
I have put a link here to the Tribal History of Feather Falls Casino if you are interested to read a bit more about this.

Although I do have mixed feelings about gambling because of the danger of addiction - there were some 'sad looking', mostly elderly people out there - I do think it can be a bit of fun when you use some common sense. After all isn't Life one big gamble?

I think Kiama would have agreed on that and would have approved of the creative idea of using casino's to support the Tribal communities of the Native Americans.
Although I took a charm with me when we visited the casino I actually forgot to find a place there so I ended up hanging it of a hook in the washroom facilities of the campsite.

I hope that who ever found it there, at Feather Falls KOA, appreciated the red feather - as a little tribute to all Native Americans.